The film, which was directed by the Muppets’ Frank Oz, has many differences in the storyline to the musical. Jim Henson designed the movie’s puppets.

Roleystone Theatre Inc are presenting this wild, tuneful and darkly funny, two-hour musical at the Roleystone Theatre, 587 Brookton Highway in Roleystone, each Wednesday, Friday and Saturday evening at 8.00 pm until 3^rd December.

This theatre has a large front of curtain apron area. The producers have removed a large central area and created an orchestra pit. The remaining area became the filthy streets of Skid Row in New York, with rubbish bins and homeless alcoholics. Props by Kathryn Ramsell included a dentist chair and other hard to source items.

Behind the front of stage, gauze drape was a well-furnished florist shop, with counter, buckets of flowers and a shop window. An easy set to manage – until the pod starts growing and then stage manager, Liam Tickner and his crew of Cassidy Bodenham, Montanna Tickner and Simon Walters have plenty of work.

Before the show began, an apology was made; the lead had taken ill at the last minute. Charlie Darlington was having to step in to this major part, ‘and so may have to carry a script’. This he rarely did, and even then, it was with minimal intrusion. As it happened, he turned out to be the best actor of the night.

       It is the 1960s, the flower power era. After a sparkling welcome from three of the local street urchins, Chiffon (Sarah Callahan), Crystal (Kimberley Harris) and Ronette (Niamh Nichols), the curtain rises.

       It is a new day, and miserable, grumpy, florist shop owner, Mr. Mushnik (Harry Olif) is ordering around his young assistant, Seymour (Charlie Darlington), whom he adopted – for slave labour – as a child. His other helper, nervous and distressed, Audrey (Alicia Walter) is late again. When she arrives, she has a black eye, the result of her brutal boyfriend Orin Scrivello (Luke Daly) a sadistic dentist who is hooked on nitrous oxide gas – laughing gas.

       One morning, Seymour finds an unusual plant in his stock. It is a cross between an avocado and a Venus flytrap. He calls it Audrey II (voiced by Paul Treasure) after his work friend whom he secretly adores. A wealthy customer (Molly Earnshaw) tries to buy the plant, but only has a $100 note, a rare thing in this depressed area of town. Later in the day, Seymour finds that the plant is wilting and only responds to fresh blood, constantly needing more.

       The word gets around about this unusual plant, now the size of half the shop. Entertainment impresario, Bernstein (Tyler Eldridge) is arranging a lecture tour, and a botanical news reporter, Patrick Martin (Luke Daly) pestering Mr Mushnik for an exclusive contract.

       Can there be happiness, or will the plant rule the shop?

I am afraid for the director, Lys Tickner and her assistant director, Brogan Smirke that there is good news and bad news. My main impression is that the show lacked subtlety. I know that it is a madcap experience, but some of the acting was well over the top. Certain musical numbers were powerfully belted out, but with an occasional loss of melody as a result. The quiet musical numbers were excellent, with a well-balanced, melodic band; however, there were one or two numbers when the drums totally took over, and even though I was near the front of the audience, the other instruments were drowned out and the lyrics of the performer could not be heard at all.

I understand that everyone wants the show to vivaciously, bounce along, but the music should be an accompaniment, and in a small venue that means holding back. This is not a reflection on the musical skills of the players, more an inability to adapt. Perhaps it is difficult to play the drums effectively without the volume, so perhaps electronic drums or muting mats could be used.

The Orchestral Direction was by Liam Gobbert and the Vocal Direction by Tyler Eldridge. The band musicians were Keyboard – Joanne Harnett and Jay Anderson. Bass – Hannah Fredriksson, Reed – Tara Oorjitham, and percussion – Alex Kent. The softer numbers were exquisite.

The choreography by Emily Botje was perfect for the era, with the well-known arm movements and hand gestures; but because of the robust song delivery, these movements tended to be dramatic rather than dreamy. Watch the Chiffons or the Ronettes performing – they are the groups these characters were based upon – and observe the soft vocal delivery of the day, and the wispy movements. The dance routines were very good, matching the tempo perfectly and well-rehearsed.

Gary Wetherilt’s lighting and Shannon Allender’s sound were particularly good. Linda Bickley’s costume design was excellent; she had everything from the flares with turn-ups, to the lavender, high buttoned Italian suit. The singers’ dresses were perfect for the 60s. The makeup by Yvette Drager-Wetherilt and Deni Mitchell was very good.

The ‘Audrey ll’ construction team was Gary Wetherilt, Jamie Thomas and John Barnes. They produced outstanding pods – plants. Molly Earnshaw and Montanna Tickner most convincingly operated them, with the plant’s mouth moving perfectly in sync with the dialogue. The tendrils at the foot of the plant flopped around giving an extra feel of a living creature. Although the plant was ‘real’, it is occasionally supposed that the voice of Audrey ll is an alter ego (or imagination) of Seymour and that he should actually speak all of the words – both his talking to the plant and its reply – however that is contentious.

When Audrey was about to go home she looked at the clock and said ‘Oh it is 6 o’clock’ – the dial had no hands on it. The trio were getting their photos taken – in the 1960s – with a mobile phone camera. Petty, perhaps but the quality lies in the detail.

I found Molly Earnshaw’s performance one of the most natural, and Luke Daly’s dentist delightfully horrendous and disturbing. Congrats to both.

As always, I am open to comments, but despite the fact that the whole cast and crew worked extremely hard, overall I left quite disappointed.

Although I may be known for being politically incorrect at times, I still found the amount of coarse language and some of the themes of this ‘fun’ rock opera unnecessarily objectionable. I would suggest 14+ as an advised age group.

In 2000, ‘High Fidelity’ was also adapted by Stephen Frear into the hilarious, top box office family film.

This 150-minute show can be seen at the octogenarian Roleystone Theatre, 587 Brookton Hwy, Roleystone on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday nights at 8.00 until 19^th March, with one matinée at 4.00 pm on Sunday 13^th March.

The front half of the stage was Rob’s home, with settee, foldaway bed and shelves of LPs. When the mid-stage screen was rolled up (flies by Ruby Higgins), there was a busy, specialist record store (clever designed by James Earnshaw, with excellent props Kathryn Ramsell) revealed.

The flowery shirts, vinyl skirts and unusual hairdos (Genevieve Brown) beautifully captured the 1980s atmosphere.

Montanna Tickner’s colourful and lively lighting design was well thought-out (rigged by Simon Walters). Cassidy Bodenham and Catherine O’Donoghue carried out the smooth stage management.

The lively and at times quite complex choreography was conceived by Kristen Twynam-Perkins and Emily Botje. It was enthusiastically performed by the cast.

Ethan Walters conducted the live, but hidden orchestra, comprising Liam Gobbert, Vlad Sturdy, Liam Richer, Paul Marion, Megan Pedlar, Krispin Maesalu and Emma Mondy. Dylan Shelton and Paul Marion were in charge of the sound. Although the live band was well-balanced, the overall sound balance between band and performer was a little off, with some of the dialogue lost to the accompaniment. Rob wore a headset, which helped, but perhaps a headset is required for every singer with live music, so the audience can appreciate the clever lyrics.

     Rob (David Wallace – well done), runs a specialist record store, the ‘Championship Vinyl’, with his assistant Barry (Richard Maganga) – a bandleader who is into weird music – and the nervous, slightly dim, Dick (Kyle Kash). Rob is getting fed up with the business as he spends hours dealing with strange nerds like ‘TMPMITW’ (Jake Tolich) – no one knows his real name – and the odd, unfashionable, middle-aged man (Paul Treasure) who is requesting a tasteless Celine Dion record for his daughter. Rob’s depression eventually reflects on his attitude to his loving partner, lawyer Laura (Caroline Perks).

     Laura, partly on the advice of her outspoken friend Liz (Kimberley Harris – excellent) leaves Rob to live with tantric-loving Ian (Luke Daly). Meanwhile in the shop, Dick has been spotted by attractive Anna (Molly Earnshaw), who is now trying every trick in the book to capture his heart.

     Rob feels alone, so goes to the local bar where he reminisces on some of his old loves, Charlie (Alyssa Burton), Alison (Emily Botje) and finally Sarah (Natalie Cox) who he drove to lesbianism. On the pub stage, the roadie (Caelan Steedman) and the sound engineer (Tyler Eldridge) have set up the microphones for the evening’s star act, Marie La Salle (Allison Harrison).

       Is there any love left in the world today? Or is there only heartbreak?

This is the type of play where everyone in the cast got their 5 minutes of stardom. Without exception, every singer performed mellifluously and some great singing. From the soft tones of Laura’s distress, to the powerful ‘belters’ by Liz. Dick sang a couple of songs with his shy approach; deliberately sounding a little like Kermit, he brought a smile to the audience’s faces. Paul Treasure and Jake Tolich provided a whiff of fame to the show, with quality, instantly recognisable, impersonations.

Director Kristen Twynam-Perkins, who won the ‘best musical of the year’ award for the rock opera ‘Bare’, has done another wonderful job with this musical. Faced with a poor script and mediocre story-thread, she has still managed to pump life and interest into the performance.

It is a little sad when you see so much skill and enthusiasm being put into a show, which is doomed from the beginning to being unremarkable.

The whole cast and team can be proud of their efforts, they gave their all.

‘Babes in the Wood’ is one of the oldest and most loved children’s pantomimes. The Graduate Dramatic Society is at the comfortable Roleystone Theatre, 587 Brookton Highway, Roleystone presenting Stephen Quinn’s adaptation of the story, in the traditional style.

Stephen was brought up – even dragged up – in south London, taking an interest in theatre from a young age. He is one of WA’s leading directors covering many serious genres, and yet his pantomime scripts have all the madcap, dry, double-entendres of the much-loved, old style UK productions.

The two and a half hour performances commence at 8.00 pm on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday nights until the 19^th December; there are also matinees at 2.00 pm on the Saturday afternoons.

The opening scene is a colourful village street, with a cottage centre stage. The proscenium arch and the side flats are beautifully painted, woodland scenery. Set design and construction by Jonathan Beckett, with set artwork by Rebecca MacKinlay.

      We join the villagers of a small hamlet near Nottingham as they celebrate at their summer fayre. The lively chorus enjoy their Maypole dancing (Choreographer Glynis Best), whilst the engaging and flamboyant, Dame Martha (Barry Park) and her talking, multitalented dog, Woofy (George O’Doherty) introduce us to the locals.

      There is Lady Marian (Sarah Courtis) who is the governess to Sir John’s children, Jane (Sienna Freeman) and Jeremy (Charlie Martin). Sir John’s wife vanished years ago, and sadly, now Sir John himself has disappeared. The evil Sherriff of Nottingham (Kerri Hilton) has the task of sorting out Sir John’s affairs and his Will, and the Sherriff has decreed that in the meanwhile the children should stay with their mercenary and miserable uncle, Sir Jasper (Grant Malcolm).

     When Jasper discovers that he will inherit all of his brother’s money if the children die, he hires two layabouts Abbott (Neale Paterson) and Gillard (Fiona Johnson) to take the children into the forest and kill them. Luckily, the fairy of the forest, Titania (Lis Hoffman) sees what is happening and sends two magical robins (Eliza Malcolm, Mercy Anthony) to guard them.

    Two of the villagers, the Old Crone (Lynda Butler) who works for Sir Jasper, and her friend Smith (Steele Fitzsimmons) hear from a poor girl, wearing a tattered dress, Rags (Neve Havercroft) of Jasper’s dastardly plan. Suspecting that Jasper and the Sherriff may be working together, they avoid the Sherriff’s guard (Glynis Best) and look for the help of the forest dweller, Robin Hood (Mel Kay).

    Soon Robin has gathered his Merry Men. There is Friar Tuck (Bill Connellan), the small but brave, Little John (Felix Malcolm), flour covered, Much the Miller (Sharon Malcolm), the musical, Alan a’ Dale (Sarah Callahan), the confused Will Scarlett (Julia Anthony) – or is he another scarlet? Their young helper, ‘the Kid’ (Hannah Horsley), accompanies them.

Director Stephen Lee obviously knows the true traditional pantos inside out. His hilarious script was cleverly written on two levels, one for the kids to appreciate and the other full of groan-worthy jokes for the broadminded parents. Stephen has obviously captured the respect of the cast, as they gave the show their all. Not for a second did even the youngest chorus member look bored or miss a cue, the cast was one strong unit.

A Dame to love and a nasty person for everyone to boo and hiss are essential; Barry Park’s ‘Dame’ was magnificent, immediately winning the affection of the audience. Grant Malcolm’s ‘nasty uncle’ was brilliantly conceived, with an eye patch – that changed sides throughout – a deformity, scruffy clothes and a weird walk – topped off with a booming rasping voice that invited numerous ‘boos’. Great teamwork.

Thigh-slapping Mel Kay, with her subtle costume ‘problems’ (a bow and quiver that never seemed to be in quite the correct place), was perceptive, subtle humour. Her singing, along with that of Sarah and Rags, was beautiful. One of the stars of the show was young Felix Malcolm, who could project his voice, change accents and act confidently – admirable. Likewise, the two ‘babes in the wood’ and Rags can be very proud; all three had great stage presence. It seems almost unfair to name some of the actors, as they ALL sang, danced and lived their parts wonderfully. There was even a brief slapstick piece, and some adventurous aerial work.

Stage manager Daniel Ramsell, assisted by ASM Rod Padget and a sizeable crew, were quick and efficient.

The lighting effects were very good, congrats to operator Jamie Cook and his Follow Spot operator Nina O’Doherty. Perhaps dim the lights when the set changes are taking place? The sound design by Ian O’Doherty is very good, with numerous ‘boom booms’ to emphasise the corny punchlines. The backing music (musical arranger Nick Choo) was at a sensible level for the cast to sing comfortably, without battling an ear-splitting band. Merri Ford and Maddy Connellan’s costumes were colourful and creative. Hideous outfits for the Dame, and beautiful for Marian. Woofy’s big black and white dog suit must have been crippling to wear, but George was still amazingly acrobatic.

A fun show for all of the family. Very clever, great to see the panto traditions being carried on with such finesse.